Although Fall has just begun, most of you are probably already planning your Christmas season services. Because we are committed to helping equip you for a more effective ministry, we have partnered with another ministry resource company to bring you a complete 5-week holiday sermon series. Find out more about The Christmas You've Always Longed For in our ‘Product Showcase’ section.

Also in this issue of Breathe, Premier and Premier Plus members can find out when to expect Volume 16 in ‘New for Members’. And, let your voice be heard by participating in our latest survey in ‘Tell Us’. Find out how another church is making the most of multimedia in our ‘Church Spotlight’ feature. And, of course, you can download this month’s free graphic set ‘Sunrise Cross’.

We pray that you and your ministry will be richly blessed.

Blessings,

Debbie Pierce
Member Services

This month we chatted with Ron Riley from Logan Christian Church in Logan, Iowa.

How do you use multimedia at your church?
We use multimedia in our Weekend services. We have three services each with it unique style (traditional, contemporary, seeker) and each uses backgrounds for music, sermons, and announcements. We also use short movies as modern day parables to help explain the message theme once or twice a month. One of our favorite uses of "the screen" is to share decisions, baptisms, and video and photos of other church events with all our people at the different services.

Narrow Gate Media, the makers of Oxygen Preaching Graphics, recently released a new product package that is different from our previous graphics collections, called The Christmas You've Always Longed For. This December series includes 5 sermons for the Advent season, with graphics, video, and sermons manuscripts for all 5 weeks. It is also supported by a wealth of collateral materials, including print and outreach elements.

This is the first of what we plan to be an extensive collection of sermon campaigns. Each series will feature faith-building messages grounded in core, cross-denominational Christian beliefs, while being completely customizable for your specific message and mission. If you would like to learn more about The Christmas You've Always Longed For, visit this product's website at www.sermonsupplies.com or call us at (888) 654-4452.

Premier and Premier Plus Members, your quarterly CD-ROMs have been shipped and should be in your mailbox within the next two weeks. Volume 16 includes incredible graphics illustrating themes such as creation, intercession, security in Christ, forgiveness and worship as well as additions to the story of Joseph and the Passion of Christ series. We pray that you will find each image useful in increasing the impact of your messages.

Deluxe Members, your coupon codes have been updated for the month of August. If you haven’t used them already, don’t forget to copy and save them somewhere since only current month’s coupons are available on the website.

This Month’s Free Download

“And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

–2 Peter 1:19

Church Spotlight, continued...

How long have you been using multimedia in your church service?
About four years. Two years ago we transitioned to using Media Shout for our services and our use of multimedia really took off. Now we can use motion backgrounds behind music and play video from the computer without any stops or interruption from a slow computer.

What presentation software/equipment do you use for your multimedia?
Media Shout 3 and occasionally we use PowerPoint for our Elementary Youth Program.

What has been the response to using graphics with your sermons?
Think of a response and I have probably heard it. Overall they enjoy it and when it is missing they ask why. So I think it is appreciated and expected.

What is one Oxygen image that has been particularly powerful in your ministry setting?
Recently I downloaded two sets for an ordination service of a young man going into ministry. They both featured a dove, one with a sword and one with a Bible. They were a good match for the atmosphere of the day.

Where are you headed with multimedia in your ministry?
We are beginning to feature more of our own "homemade" video features. There is also a desire to see the video illustrations become more common. We are hopeful to grow the number of people who are interested in helping contribute ideas, time, and enthusiasm into this part of our worship service.

We would like to see the multimedia become less of a feature and find ways for it to flow more naturally in the service. Kind of like the perfect lighting or a good microphone a good presentation adds a lot to the message and worship time, but no one should walk away thinking about the great background videos or stills, but about God's word and it's effect on their life.

*Interview has been edited for length and clarity.

If you would like to share how your church is using multimedia, please email us at members@oxygen-multimedia.com. We would love to hear from you!

Here are the results from last month’s survey when we asked, ‘Your church needs more of what resources?’

Answer

Results

Graphics

27%

Motion

25%

Video

27%

Print

7%

Sermon Series

14%

October’s Question

How often do you use someone else's sermon manuscript as a starting point for your sermons?

Every week
2 – 3 times per month
2 – 3 times per quarter
A few times per year
Never